DER integration needs whole-system voltage control to avoid costly grid reinforcement

Dr Jon Hiscock, CEO of UK voltage control experts Fundamentals Limited, will argue that network planners must embrace whole-system solutions for integrating millions of new DERs (Distributed Energy Resources), at the EECON (Electrical Energy Society of Australia) conference in Sydney, November 18-20.

Network planners need fresh thinking on how to integrate DERs from consumer level upwards, as millions of electricity users opt for solar rooftop, batteries, heat pumps and EVs, says Dr Jon Hiscock in his EECON paper.

There is growing evidence that mass adoption of domestic-scale DERs is causing voltages to swing outside acceptable limits on local networks, resulting in customer equipment shut-downs, he says.

Electricity distributors’ traditional response has been to reach for network reinforcement solutions. But Dr Hiscock believes this is blinkered by an outdated view of the grid as a top-down system, designed to deliver energy from centralised generators to passive consumers.

Whole-system control

“New approaches are needed to allow networks, which were designed using historic ‘voltage tapering’, to serve new cohorts of DER-equipped customers efficiently in future,” he says.

“Operators can achieve this by managing voltage levels and frequency continuously and dynamically, using a whole-system approach on their existing networks. This involves using sensing and modelling at all levels, to establish viable real time settings for intelligent control devices on local networks.

“Integrating local control systems with higher level operational control systems has demonstrable potential to solve many of the challenges we face, at much lower cost than expensive network reinforcement or curtailing customer activities.”

Smarter is cheaper

Dr Hiscock’s paper will describe a proven solution to DER integration problems, using state-of-the-art voltage control algorithms, combined with novel use of whole-system monitoring equipment, to optimise network voltages dynamically.

This will show how utilising modelling and learning at consumer level from a large UK distribution network has demonstrated the most efficient way of managing network voltages without the need for expensive new infrastructure.

The paper will also explore the potential for customers to benefit financially from smarter integration of their DERs, as well as reducing operator costs.

Dr Hiscock concludes: “The bottom line is that clever voltage control means network operators and their customers can get a lot more out of existing systems, without the need for more wires.”